DARK LIGHT
Chapter 3
Inside the expansive cavern, the digidestined present, Davis, Yolei, TK and Cody, all pensively stood. TK was pacing around the central room every other minute while the others leaned on rocks and eyed him with an annoyed but understanding glance. The gloomy atmosphere and the bleak light of the cave bore down on the kids. Their digimon sat on the cold, wet floor, some with their eyes closed, often seen shivering in the freezing cave. Gatomon stood, her eyes scanning the room. TK started another lap of the room. Davis' fists clenched."Would you please stop doing that!" he shouted. TK turned to him with a look of anxiety on his face. Frowning, he continued to pace. Davis grunted and kneeled down to try to rest his legs more.
"What do you think is going on down there?" Yolei pondered, indicating the small, black hole that Kari had ventured down about half an hour previously. The blackness was so thick down there; it was as if the doorway was a portal to a cold, bleak world.
A small rumble formed deep in the bedrock of the cavern. The floor became unseated and began to shake without control. The group had almost no time to react. The kids grabbed hold of the vibrating walls and the digimon braced themselves. Just as soon as the tremor started, it was over.
Silence.
"What was that?" Davis asked no-one in particular.
"Some sort of earthquake?" Cody inquired.
"Oh no, what if…" Yolei began.
"Kari!" TK shouted. "What if she's hurt? We need to help her!"
TK ran for the passageway and started to make his way down the narrow, rugged path, until he reached the point where they had last seen Kari. The invisible barrier, which for some unknown reason only she could pass through, was still there. Past it nothing was visible. Anything could have happened.
The others followed TK down the pathway and crammed themselves into the small space there was. The digimon followed, managing to push her way through to the front. Hawkmon put his wing up to feel the glass-like structure of the barrier; it was indeed still there.
"I'm sure she's alright TK, she's strong," Cody tried to assure TK and Gatomon, but his face was still full of worry and she was pensively staring down the bleak pathway.
The digidestined were in a hopeless position, In reality, there was nothing they could do to help their friend; they didn't even know if she needed their help. All they could do was watch, watch and hope.
Gatomon's ears perked up. She stared hard down the passageway.
"Something's coming," she said.
"Is it Kari?" TK nervously asked. She stared even harder, squinting in the blackness.
"I don't…"
Her voice trailed off as she seen something far down the corridor. What looked like two amber-yellow marbles were floating up the path, at walking pace. As they got slightly nearer, the marbles looked more and more like eyes, reflecting the miniscule light in the tunnel. Gatomon's mouth hung open as a dark form, hard to make out in the blackness, made it's way ever closer to the surface.
It stopped around fifty feet from the invisible wall. Gatomon was awestruck.
"It's… it's…"
Her eyes were wide with disbelief.
"That's a BlackGatomon!" Hawkmon suddenly realised.
The virus counterpart of Gatomon started stalking forward again, slowly putting one paw in front of the other, and walking on all fours. The digidestined were transfixed with her expansive golden-yellow coloured eyes. They seemed to have a hint of menace in them.
"What if that digimon got Kari!?" Davis asked. The others thought. It was a virus digimon, it looked hostile, and those eyes… The decision was made.
The digidestined and digimon outside the invisible barrier all moved back into the main cavern where they had been previously waiting. Fighting stances were adopted.
The BlackGatomon emerged from the gateway. She stared around the cavern, but her attention was attracted by the four rookie digimon all swiftly moving towards her in attacking stances.
"Vee Headbutt!" Veemon called out his attack, launching himself towards the cat digimon. As she got closer, he saw her face change and her strong leg muscles power her out of harm's way. Veemon crashed into the cavern wall.
"Hawk Beam!" The feather of Hawkmon's attack headed straight for the spot where the BlackGatomon had just landed. Before she even had time to look up, the feather hit her in the stomach, pushing her back a few feet. The eyes blinked. She was unharmed.
She ran to the other side of the cave, trying to avoid the attacks of the digimon. "Diamond Shell!" Armadillomon started to roll after her at high speed, but the cat foreseen the attack and graciously leaped over him, causing him to careen into a loose rock on the floor.
Patamon attacked with his Boom Bubble. The air pocket rushed towards the virus digimon and hit it square in the head. Knocked back, she tumbled over backwards and landed on her front, dazed from Patamon's air attack. Gatomon relished the opportunity and rushed in, her paw held up.
"Lightning…"
She stopped. Her attack was about to make contact with the digimon, whose eyes were tightly shut, holding her head in her paws, scared witless. When the attack didn't connect, she opened them again and looked up at her vaccine counterpart.
Gatomon stared at her. She was feeling something she hadn't felt in years – guilt. The last time she felt that was Myotismon's invasion of Odaiba.
'Why did I stop?'
She concentrated, and looked at the BlackGatomon, who was still frozen in fear from Gatomon's attack. There was something about those yellow eyes. Something familiar.
Gatomon gasped sharply.
"K-… K-… Kari?"
The dark digimon broke down and started wailing. The tears flew freely from her expansive eyes. Gatomon looked on in awe. The others looked in shock, unmoving.
A lower, huskier voice spoke softly, "It's me, Gatomon."
